Ontario homelessness rates surge amid stagnant income assistance rates: report

Jon Woodward reports on how the cold snap is shining a light on the link between rising homelessness rates and stagnant income assistance.

More than 30,000 people using Ontario income assistance programs are finding themselves homeless anyway – a number that has dramatically increased since before the pandemic, according to a new report from a Toronto-based human rights organization.

And those surging homelessness rates are linked to stagnant income assistance as even the cheapest apartments tend to cost more than the entire monthly cheques from one major program, researchers from Maytree found.

“Ontario’s social assistance programs remain fundamentally inadequate when measured against the real cost of living,” says the report, called “Designed to Fail.”

“Today, paltry social assistance rates leave recipients unable to achieve even basic stability in their lives,” it says.

In 2024, for a single adult, the maximum a person can expect to receive per month on Ontario Works was $733. The maximum Ontario Disability Support Program benefit was $1,308.

The Ontario Works rate remained the same from 2019 and 2024, while ODSP rates rose from $1,169.

During the same period, the average asking rent for a single room climbed from $730 to $860 in Toronto, and from $567 to $756 across Ontario.

“When you pass that threshold, if you are looking for a room, you simply cannot find one even if you put your entire monthly cheque to rent,” said Alexi White, Maytree’s Director of System Change.

“The whole point of these programs is that they are a safety net to prevent people who have fallen into difficult circumstances to keep them fed, to recognize inherent human dignity that they have and try to provide them enough to get by. We need to have a conversation about this,” White said.

The organization’s data, which it said was from a Freedom of Information request, showed that more than 30,000 people on OW and ODSP were experiencing homelessness, an increase of 72 per cent since July 2019.

In advance of a cold snap, advocacy group Crisis In Our City parked their RV next to Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square to hand out hats, sleeping bags, coffee and chicken soup to people in need on Thursday night.

“This is some nice chicken soup. This soup right here is from love. From our heart,” said volunteer Richardo Rose.

“We have to make sure that we take care of each other and look out for each other,” he said.

Crisis In Our City co-founder Mismak Taame Hagos said that it’s quite cold Thursday night at about -8 C, but colder weather coming this weekend could prove deadly.

On Saturday, temperatures are expected to dip as low as -24 C in Toronto.

“We need warming spaces where people can sleep safely, where they don’t have to face this weather. It’s excruciating. People could die. It’s an emergency situation,” she said.

Taame Hagos called for levels of government to embrace unusual options to provide shelter spaces, including parking structures.

According to the Association of Ontario Municipalities, the number of people who experienced homelessness across Ontario rose by eight per cent last year, to 85,000.

The City of Toronto has opened warming centres to supplement its shelter spaces, and it has a plan to open up 20 new shelter sites by 2033.

But rising homelessness figures have challenged the City of Toronto’s response. The warming centre north of City Hall had reached its capacity of 75 by about 7:30 p.m., volunteers said.

Jimmy Mann stopped by the RV to pick up a sleeping bag. He said he’s waiting for public housing and said between two sleeping bags he would make it work tonight.

The biggest challenge apart from the cold, he said, was making sure that warm sleeping bags and clothes wouldn’t be “lifted” by others in need.

If it gets too cold, he’ll stay up all night, he said, adding that he’s got to pay attention to the temperature.

“It’s the main thing you have to keep your eye on so you don’t fall into harm’s way,” he said.